2 of my favorite MINI outings are "MINI's on Top", which I go to in June, and since I have been transplanted to Southwest Virginia, I now have a second favorite event: The Hampton Roads Club MINI Fall Colors Run that they hold in October. It brings me back to my days when I lived in the Northeast where on any given day during Fall, you could see the Fall Foliage bloom the beginning of October. Well, down here it starts a bit later, but it still gives me the feeling of being back home in Connecticut, just a month later.

I attended last years run just for a daytrip, as I had just moved down here a couple months before. This year, I decided to go up in the morning to meet up with the rest of the MINI folk, and figured we'd go Motoring like we did last year. As fate would have it, a freak winter storm came in the day before, and where I was in Lynchburg, VA, it was an all rain event, but with the cold front from the North, Monterey, VA had a far different weather event: 6 INCHES OF SNOW!

Uy vey...

Nevertheless, still having the "Rugged New Englander" in me, I pressed on. I saw just about every concievable car accident you can think of, downed trees (That lasted an hour before I could pass), and learning the "hard way" that the new MINI is a far cry from the 'Justa that I had before when it comes to snow (PEARL was a friggin' mountain goat in bad weather, apparently not so with Ça Va, but we'll work on that later after some great input from some of the HRCM folks - Thanks Guys!).
I had reached the point of asking myself:

Is this worth it?
Realy?

But I made it to the Highland Inn safe and sound, and as it turns out, they delayed the run until late morning. After the "shakes" went away, and I got to take a break, it turned out to be a beautiful day, and it was on! Great food, Great roads and GREAT MINI folks to hang with! Good times indeed!

Yeah, it sure was & I'm glad I did it!!

Let the slideshow begin!

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